A Guardian's Duty
by TheEpicTales
Summary: The Sol Emeralds have been taken by an unkown figure assumed to be Knuckles. After a conflict involving Knuckles and Blaze they must work together to recover the shards of the Master Emerald and the Sol Emeralds before an unknown foe. Note: Based on Koukie's work by the same name, rewritten with permission.
1. Prologue & The Adventure Begins

**A Guardian's Duty:**

**Prologue:**

Something wasn't right. Blaze sat up in her bed and listened in her dark room for the slightest out-of-place sound. It seemed a ridiculous notion to suspect something was amiss in the castle considering the sheer number of guards patrolling the halls and grounds while the Royal Family slumbered. Still… The princess felt an unfamiliar presence within the labyrinthine palace.

She decided to reach out and try to check on her charges, the Sol Emeralds. Concentrating her subconscious on the powerful artifacts, she pushed her senses to probe at the vault in which she kept the Emeralds. She struggled but couldn't detect their presence. The Emeralds!

She cast aside her sheets and leapt to her feet. She didn't bother to cover her body with anything more than her gossamer nightgown. The Emeralds were more important than her decency. She opened her door and tore down the hall, much to the surprise of the pair of guards posted on either side of her doors. They exchanged a look, peeped inside looking for danger, then seeing none, jogged after their princess.

Blaze didn't bother explaining her behavior to them, time was of the essence. She navigated the many corridors at breakneck speed, since she knew the entire palace like the back of her hand.

At length, they came to the throne room, and behind the tapestries camouflaging it, the vault doors. She slowed and looked around, but didn't see anyone except the two guards that had followed her. "Ma'am?" one, a heavyset panda, asked. "Is everything alright?"

"No. Something's wrong."

The guards searched the room from their vantage point, but couldn't see anything amiss. "Er, your highness? There doesn't seem to be any danger," the panda guard observed.

Blaze didn't answer and jogged up to the vault. The door was sealed, but… She input the combination as the guards came up beside her. The lock slammed and the thick iron door slowly swung open. Blaze stepped inside. The Emeralds glowed in their cases and appeared untouched.

Blaze went to one and touched the glass. Maybe she was overreacting and **maybe** she was getting all worked up about nothing. "See, milady? The Emeralds are safe; perhaps you should return to your chambers and finish your beauty sleep?" the panda suggested.

Blaze nodded and prepared to leave. As she turned though, she saw a third figure standing behind the unaware guards. Noticing her startled expression, the guards whipped around and drew their blades. "Identify yourself, stranger!" the panda challenged.

The newcomer ignored the guard's words and took a threatening step forward. The second guard, a hulking gorilla charged the figure but got smacked away with apparently no effort. The gorilla fell back, knocked over a few cases, and didn't get back up.

"Ricardo!" the panda cried, but maintained a defensive stance in front of his princess even though his sword arm trembled. "I warn you! Stand down!" His voice shook.

The figure rushed forward and caught the panda by the throat as it smacked the sword out his victim's hand. The guard struggled in the vice like grip, but couldn't break it. The lack of air forced him to pass out. The intruder let the panda's limp form sink to the floor. He looked at the princess, seemed to smile, but turned away towards the gems.

Blaze came to her senses and summoned up a ball of fire and launched it at the thief. The thief felt it approaching and dodged the attack. It rushed forward and grabbed Blaze in a similar fashion to the panda guard, but bashed her against the stone wall as well. Dazed, Blaze could do little but struggle to stay conscious. Her attacker held her up against the wall for a while longer then released her. She fell to the floor but couldn't bring herself to her feet. She could only watch helplessly as the thief collected her Emeralds from their cases.

She tried to call for help, but all that came out was a croaking whisper. The thief now had all seven Emeralds and exited the chamber. She knew what he was going to do, but was powerless to stop him. The figure looked in once more and then shut the door. The heavy metal bolts slid into place, effectively trapping her in here along with both her guards. Unable to stay awake any longer, she faded into blackness. The last thought that crossed her mind was, 'That thief looks familiar… Where have I seen him before?'

**Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins:**

Knuckles lay peacefully on the altar in front of the Master Emerald watching clouds pass overhead as he did most days. It was times like these when he actually wished for trouble if only for a little excitement. With any luck, that batgirl would come and try to take the Emerald again today. He chuckled a little to himself at the irony that thought made. He would guard the Master Emerald with his life, yet he would welcome the repetitive thief's attempt just for fun.

Knuckles continued his musing. Rouge wasn't too bad. She could be downright unhelpful and aggravating when she wanted, but there were rare times when he didn't mind her companionship. If only once in a while, she came just to see him and not to… He blushed as he broke that train of thought. Should he really be having thoughts of her like that? It created feelings inside him he didn't want to acknowledge.

His job was a lonely one. One he held in high regard and very well knew his importance to the world, even if others couldn't see it, but he hated it. It tied him down. If he ever left it for even a short visit to friends, by the time he got back, it could be gone. He could sense it from wherever he happened to be of course, but if an emergency were to arise, he'd be too far away to do anything about it. So on the island he stayed.

A crackle alerted him. Normally, a fairly typical sound like snapping wood wouldn't mean much to him, but since he was itching for action anyways, he decided he should check it out on the off chance an intruder was on the island. He stood up, preparing to go down into the jungle for a look when something engulfed in flames launched itself out of the dense woods directly at the echidna, leaving a trail of scorched vegetation behind it.

"What the?!" he shouted as he instinctively held his hands up and steadied his stance. The figure collided into him and the heat burned his hands. With a sharp cry of pain, he pushed the thing away and started to shake his hands vigorously. The flaming aura around the intruder diminished revealing a lavender colored female cat. Knuckles was shocked to say the least.

"I know you! You're that catwoman!" he recalled. "What are you doing here? And why did you attack me?"

"For your information my name is Blaze, and I came here to get the Sol Emeralds back from the one who stole them!" Without further words being said, Blaze quickly dashed forward sending a kick flying straight for Knuckles.

Knuckles reflexively shielded his face with his arms, blocking the kick, as Blaze quickly jumped back. This was quite ironic to him, he was usually the one that blamed others of stealing the Master Emerald from him; He had never been accused of stealing something. Nevertheless, he knew that he didn't steal the "Sol Emeralds" that she spoke of. Blaze up dashed up the altar again towards him, instead of blocking this time, he sidestepped. It was too late to correct his mistake, what he had dreaded happened.

Blaze slammed straight into the emerald, shattering it into hundreds of pieces that went flying everywhere. "No!" But it was too late.

Knuckles knew what would happen next and it was imminent. Right on cue the island started shaking violently as it plummeted straight towards the sea. Knuckles grabbed Blaze's hand and glided over to a nearby pillar which he dug his fist into. He quickly wrapped the arm he had grabbed Blaze around her and held her close while struggled and hissed. There was a sickening pause just before the island hit the water, sending out enormous tidal waves.

While the residual chaos energy from the shattered Master Emerald kept the island from sinking entirely, Knuckles let go of the pillar and dropped the ground. He sat Blaze down gently; he noted that she must have fainted when they fell.

He looked at his shattered emerald. Fortunately with all the pieces still being here, he could reform it with time. He looked back to the unconscious cat and sighed. It looked like Knuckles had another adventure ahead of him.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I renamed this chapter.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: A Burning Tension

**Chapter 2: A Burning Tension:**

Something hard prodded Blaze roughly in her side, forcing the cat to pull herself out of the tantalizing embrace of unconsciousness. With a groan, she blinked and discovered a red blur standing over her. As her eyes adjusted, the red blob transformed into a vague red shape and then finally into Knuckles with a serious expression on his face. Thinking for a moment, she tried to remember where she was and why and then, in an instant of clarity, it all came back.

Immediately, she tried to get to her feet, but found she was restrained by something. Looking down, she saw thick, green vines wrapped several times around her abdomen and chest, pinning her arms to her sides as well. Her wrists too, were held by the same ropey vines. Knuckles smirked while Blaze struggled against her bonds. "Not so fast, kitty. I have some questions first."

Blaze composed herself and glared defiantly at her captor. "Release me, thief. You have no right to hold me."

Knuckles scoffed disbelievingly. "You attacked me," he said, pointing to her and then to himself for emphasis. "In my own home, no less."

Blaze opened her mouth to argue, but instead said, "…In?"

"Don't correct my grammar," he snapped, "You're in no position to do that."

Technically, his grammar was right this time, but Blaze suppressed the urge to suggest he say "so" instead.

"Now first off," he began as he lowered himself to her level, "Why did you attack me?"

The echidna's violet eyes gazed intensely into hers and she almost felt as if he could peer right into her soul, but she wouldn't let him get anything out of her without a fight. "Do you deny stealing the Sol Emeralds?"

"I do. Kinda hard to steal something I've never heard of. Although," he added thoughtfully, "They sound sort of like Chaos Emeralds."

Blaze hesitated. The echidna adamantly denied stealing or even hearing of the Sol Emeralds (then again denial is no proof of innocence) and he didn't seem like the criminal type. Perhaps she was mistaken. She didn't want to admit it and the echidna did uncannily resemble the thief. Still, doubts continued to nag at her.

Suddenly, a crackle of twigs snapping underfoot came from behind Knuckles, who whirled around to face it. "Did you bring back-up?' he demanded, raising his fists defensively.

"No."

"Then what's –" he broke of when Rouge the Bat stepped out of the trees.

"Hello, Red," she greeted.

"You! What are you doing here?!"

"Hey now, is that anyway to greet guests?"

"Great. Visitors. I just love visitors," he grumbled sarcastically.

"I just dropped in for a peek. I was flying around, looking for your island and can you imagine my surprise and confusion to find it floating in the water like a giant rubber duck? It seems your little island is a bit low in the sky today, so I decided I should investigate. It'd be the only proper thing to do."

Blaze didn't know this chesty bat, but for some reason, she didn't like her. But she was glad that Knuckles' attention was on the unexpected visitor so his back was to her so she could escape. A tiny flame sparked in her hand soundlessly and licked the ropelike vines that bound her hands together.

"You don't fool me, woman. You were after my Emerald again, but you're too late, sister, this one already beat you to it," he said, as he gestured towards Blaze.

The fire had already eaten through her wrist bonds and were working on the portion behind the trunk. Rouge walked up to captured cat and examined her closely. "Ooh, kinky," she said, half-turning to Knuckles and winked suggestively at him. "How come you never tie me up like that?"

Knuckles' smug look fell and he blanched as his thoughts immediately jumped to Rouge tied up and completely at his mercy. He struggled to push the image out of his mind, distracting him greatly. At that moment, the last vine snapped and Blaze launched forward to grab the unsuspecting bat by surprise. Rouge instinctively clutched the arm that held her by the throat while the other held a hot flame nearby, singeing the bat's cheek.

"Alright, give me the emeralds or the bat gets it," she demanded in her sternest tone.

Knuckles blinked out of his stupor and feigned indifference. He shrugged and turned away. "O.K."

"What?!" gagged Rouge as loud as she could. "You're really gonna let her –" Rouge's voice cut off as Blaze tightened her grip.

"I-I mean it," she warned, he voice quavering slightly.

"So? You'd be doing me a favor, really." Rouge looked outraged. "Besides, as I've already told you, I don't have your emeralds."

Blaze's confidence melted away and the flame in her flickered and died. Rouge took advantage of Blaze's hesitation and in an amazing feat of flexibility, kicked Blaze in the face. The cat let go of the bat and fell to her back. She landed only for an instant before cartwheeling back to stand gracefully on her feet. A big welt that would turn into a bruise began to appear on her check and her nose dribbled some blood. She stood ready to defend herself, but Knuckles seemed to take no further notice of her and walked away slowly while Rouge held her ground, rubbing her throat and alternated glaring between Blaze and Knuckles.

"Hey," Blaze called after the echidna, "where do you think you're going?"

"To find the missing pieces of my Emerald."

"But what about my emeralds?"

"Sounds like your problem." The echidna was nearly gone from view and Rouge threw one last glare at Blaze before following Knuckles, leaving Blaze alone.

Catching up with Knuckles, Rouge asked, "How did you know she wasn't going to burn me?"

"I didn't," he replied tersely, not even glancing at Rouge.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update and how short it is. Definitely not worth the wait, but I got distracted by school, a new job at Jack in the Box, trying to enlist in the Air Force, and getting together a group for D&amp;D. Regardless, there is no excuse for leaving you all hanging like that. I will let you know though that for now until summer is over, I will be on hiatus for most of it. I will return in the fall, hopefully with chapters of great stories for you. Thank you. I love you all.<p> 


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